MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator fan review – tried and tested

The MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator is the Meaco brand's bestselling fan. It's also the air quality specialist's largest and most powerful tabletop fan and is designed to offer a noticeably different cooling experience than your average desk fan. 

It sets out to achieve this in three main ways; firstly, its powerful DC motor can move 1056 cubic metres of air each hour, secondly – as the product's name may suggest – its oscillating multi-directional operation is designed to circulate that air around the room, bouncing the airflow off walls and ceilings to cool the room itself rather than just the person sat closest to the fan. Thirdly, that DC motor also aims to keep things quiet, eliminating the dreaded drone that can be part and parcel of turning a fan on, with the aim to create a product that is 'nearly silent' and can be used in the bedroom, office, or anywhere where you might appreciate some extra peace and quiet.

Can it hold its own compared to some of the best fans on the market? As someone who hates the background whirr of a fan, and struggles with the heat when the mercury soars, I was eager to put the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator to the test to find out. 

I tested the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator alongside some of its closest competitors, comparing assembly and set-up, ease of use, cooling powers, noise levels, and all of its extra functions. Read on to find out if this fan's impressive promises held up in practice.

MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator review

Specifications

• Power: 9.5-23.5W
• Speed settings: 12
• Oscillation: 60° vertical swing, 80° horizontal swing, plus combined multi-directional oscillation
• Air displacement: 1056m³/ hour
• Timer: yes - between 1 and 12 hours
• Other functions: Eco mode
• Decibel rating: 20-60 dB
• Dimensions: H40 x W28.5 x D30.5cm
• Weight: 3.2 kg

How we tested the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator

Amy Lockwood

Amy is the Ideal Home team's Product Editor, putting all manner of products through their paces to find the best recommendations for our readers, whether that's the best sofa beds for multifunctional living or the best garden furniture for a stylish outdoor space. She tested the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator in her two-bedroom apartment, comparing it to bestsellers from all the leading brand names to see how well it performed against the best-in-class.

MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator review: unboxing

The MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator arrives in a smart black box with plenty of consumer accolades proudly displayed – there's a Which? Best Buy award and a Quiet Mark accreditation recognising its low volume operation – all of which are promising signals as to its performance.

My first thoughts on unboxing the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator were that this fan is a bit of a beast. It actually only measures H40 x W28.5 x D30.5cm, but the solid globe-shaped build means it feels fairly chunky on first impressions.

However, if size is an issue, then Meaco also makes two smaller versions of this fan, the MeacoFan 650 Air Circulator that measures H35 x W25.5 x D23.5cm, and the even more petite MeacoFan 360 Personal Air Circulator that measures H30 x W21 x D21cm.

Once unboxed, it quickly becomes clear that unlike many fans, there’s no self-assembly necessary with this fan – hurray! – you simply receive the pre-assembled fan, the instruction manual, and a circular remote. A real bonus if you're ordering in the midst of a heatwave and want to get cool ASAP.

As handy as the remote control is, I have to admit my immediate thought was that it would instantly get lost down the cushions in the sofa, BUT Meaco has thought of this, and made both the centre of the fan and the remote magnetic so the remote can be safely stored on the fan when not in use – genius! 

The only downside is that Meaco does note that the magnetic element means that the fan is unsuitable for use by those with pacemakers or near defibrillators. 

There’s a looks-like-leather but is actually synthetic and animal by-product-free carry handle at the top of the globe which can be adjusted to lay flat, or pulled out a notch to allow access for fingers underneath if you want to transport the fan from room to room.

This is a little bit fiddly to adjust and I doubt I’d often go to the effort of adjusting it rather than just picking the whole unit up, but it’s there if you want to use it, and that does mean you can carry the unit one-handed.

Overall, the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator feels like a quality product from the get-go, with a robust build and some nice design touches that make it feel far more premium than your standard fan.

Plus, once I'd adjusted to the 'visual bulk' of the solid globe exterior, I soon realised that its design is actually pretty compact compared to a lot of standard desk fans with grill guards. 

Despite it appearing a little bulky at first, its footprint is very neat, meaning it actually takes up less space on the desk than the Russell Hobbs 12" Scandi Desk Fan, even though the latter appears smaller as you can see through the grill guards which gives the illusion of a smaller build.

I was definitely impressed enough by its appearance to be eager to turn the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator Fan on and see what it could do.

MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator Fan: performance

Next up was figuring out how the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator Fan works, a process made easy thanks to a very clear instructional manual. 

Ease of use

I’m usually a big fan of the simplicity and accessibility of manual controls, but there’s no denying that the MeacoFan’s digital attributes are impressive. Turn the fan on at the wall socket and it will beep once before entering standby mode, whereby it helpfully displays the ambient room temperature on the black control panel located on the fan's base.

In standby mode, the digital display is dimmed – which does make it a little hard to read in direct sunlight or for those who are visually impaired – however, touch the black control panel, and the display springs to life and brightens considerably to make reading its icons much easier.

All of the fan's control buttons are operated via this digital display (or the remote control). Each illuminated icon on the display is touch sensitive and beeps when pressed. 

To turn the fan on I simply pressed the power icon once and the fan immediately started on its lowest setting. Unlike some digital displays – in particular the rather fiddly operation of the Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate Fan – the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator's touch screen is very responsive and very easy to operate.

Once on, you can press the Speed button and increase the fan speed through 12 power settings – more than enough to find the exact setting for your preferences. Turn the fan off and it will remember your preferred power setting when you turn the fan on again. 

There are only a couple of slight annoyances I encountered with the digital controls. Firstly, there seems to be no way to turn the power setting down using the base controls without having to cycle up through all 12 power settings to get back down to the lowest setting of 1 – a bit of a design flaw, albeit one solved by using the remote control provided instead of the base controls. Via the remote, you can toggle both up and down through the speed settings rather than the upwards-only functionality on the unit itself.  

Secondly, as mentioned, when not selected the digital display icons are very faint which can make them hard to read. Again, this is much clearer if you opt to use the remote control as here the icons are printed and so much easier to read.  

If you use the remote, then you also have the additional option to turn off the illuminated display on the base via the Light button, which is perfect for nighttime use if you want to run the fan in a bedroom. 

The buttons on the remote control are slightly raised so feel nice and intuitive to press, and – although the remote itself does feel a little easily losable – the magnetic holder in the centre of the fan itself is a great feature.

Overall, considering it offers a good range of functionality, the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator was the easiest fan of all the options I've tested to use. 

The MeacoFan is far less fiddly to control than the great, but overcomplicated, Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate Fan, and although the touchscreen or remote controls are a little more involved than the very basic manual controls on the budget Honeywell Turbo Force Power Fan or the simple Russell Hobbs 12" Scandi Desk Fan, they're more intuitive, more ergonomic, and better placed for ease of use than either of these options. All in all, a score of 5 out of 5 for ease of use from me.

Cooling powers

Obviously, the main reason for buying a fan is because you want it to keep you cool. So next up was measuring the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator's cooling powers, and from the minute I turned this fan on – even on its lowest setting of 1 – its cooling effect is instantly noticeable.

Unlike fans at the budget end of the scale, such as the Honeywell Turbo Force Power Fan and Russell Hobbs 12" Scandi Desk Fan, the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator doesn't just feel like it's blowing warm air in your direction, there's noticeable coolness to its airflow on a warm day, and as you cycle up through the power settings that coolness increases. 

On its highest speed setting of 12, the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator is by far the most powerful fan I've tested. Outperforming the impressive Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate Fan in terms of the strength of air you can have streaming around the room in an instant. If you're looking for a fan that can really deliver a powerful air current, the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator will blow you away, (not quite) literally.

The fan's other great feature is that multi-directional oscillation that earns it its 'air circulator' status. A quick press of one of the two Oscillation buttons and the fan body glides smoothly left-to-right through 80°, or up and down through a 60° vertical swing. Press both buttons at once and the fan moves confidently through sweeping arcs to bounce air off the walls and ceilings and do its job of cooling the room rather than the person.

If you're likely to want the fan on for long periods of time during a heatwave then this function has several benefits – offering the ability to cool multiple people in a room rather than just a single user, and providing a much more comfortable experience than being buffeted by a constant stream of air for long periods of time. 

All in all, this is the most powerful and most cooling fan I've reviewed, getting 5 out of 5 for its cooling powers.

Noise levels

It's a rare thing to find a fan that's as powerful as the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator but also operates as quietly. 

Whilst it's not quite as whisper-quiet as the quietest fan I've tested – that accolade goes to the Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate Fan which on its lowest setting starts at just 13dB of noise and increases to 50dB on its highest setting – the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator is still very quiet compared to most fans on the market. 

On its lowest setting (that admittedly delivers substantially more airflow than the Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate Fan's lowest setting) the MeacoFan 1056 creates 20dB of noise. This increases to 60dB on its highest and most powerful speed setting. However, it's also the type of noise that can affect how distracting a fan is to run. Whilst the MeacoFan is just audible on its lower settings, there is no hint of any droning noise, and even on its highest settings the acoustics are of gushing air, rather than the mechanical headache-inducing drone most of us probably associate with fan noise. 

Just like its cooling powers, the MeacoFan's low noise levels are extremely impressive, and considering how much air it can shift it's hard to begrudge it a little extra volume compared to the virtually silent Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate Fan. That said, if quiet operation is your main criterion when fan shopping, the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator isn't quite the quietest fan money can buy, so I scored it 4.5 out 5 on the 'virtually silent' front.

Extra functions

So far I was incredibly impressed by the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator, but there's still more to explore in its functionality.

As well as its 12-speed settings, and left-right, up-down, and multi-directional oscillation, there’s also a timer function that allows you either to set when the fan turns on, or when it turns off. You can set this in one-hour intervals, for anywhere between 1 and 12 hours. This is especially useful if you want to have the fan running whilst you fall asleep on a hot night, but don't want it using energy all night long whilst you're fast asleep.

The final impressive setting is the ECO mode. When this is turned on the fan utilises its ability to detect the ambient room temperature, and automatically changes the fan speed in response. So at under 23°c it will run on speed setting 2, once the mercury rises to 23-35°c it auto-switches up to setting 4, all the way up to over 33°c when it will run on setting 12. A great way to maintain your cool, and save energy usage, without constantly faffing with settings. 

Verdict

So should you buy the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator? Well, in a word, yes. 

This is the most powerful fan I've tested, delivering great cooling powers, and, thanks to its DC motor, managing to do that whilst also achieving very low noise levels. 

There's no self-assembly required with this fan, which means it's ready to use straight from the box – a surprising rarity amongst the fans we've tested, and a great plus point compared to faffing around with assembly in the middle of a heatwave – and its controls are super user-friendly, well-designed, and very easy to operate.

The MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator isn't cheap, generally coming in around the £100 mark, but it's also not the most expensive fan I've tested, and it offers a solid, consistent, and very impressive performance. 

I did slightly miss the 'natural wind' mode that the similarly-priced Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate fan and EcoAir Kinetic Ultra Silent Air Circulation DC fan both offer. Instead, the MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator delivers super-powerful airflow rather than the nuanced subtlety of these two models, so on its highest settings you can feel a little more like you're sat in a (deliciously cool) gale rather than experiencing the variations of a natural breeze. But, that's largely made up for by the MeacoFan's best-in-class oscillating powers that sweep the air around the room in a ultra-smooth motion.

Overall, if you're looking for a high-performing, powerful, cooling and quiet fan, then the MeacoFan is a fantastic all-rounder, and although that does mean investing a little more cash than I'd generally consider paying for a fan to gain its superior performance, in this case I think that's money very well spent.